Ridgewood accepts the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Kayanne Buchannon of Sara's Pre-School gets iced by co-workers for the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. As part of a recent social media campaign, people across the country have been dumping ice water on their heads in an effort to raise funds and awareness for ALS.

Ice-cold water has been raining down on Ridgewood this past month, but the drenched are all smiles.

Last Friday, 11 teachers at Sara's Pre-School on Prospect Street in Ridgewood lined up with buckets in front of the playground. About 50 children, ages 3-7, watched excitedly as their grimacing-but-game teachers poured ice-cold buckets of water on their heads, one by one.

"Do it again!" "Do it again!" "Do it again!" chanted the children.

These teachers are just a few of those in the village who are eagerly participating in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, the now-ubiquitous social media campaign that promotes awareness of the progressive neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly referred to as ALS or "Lou Gehrig's Disease."

At this point, anyone with a Facebook profile knows that the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has exploded since it began earlier this summer, thanks to a chain reaction of ice bucket "challengers" who have nominated their Facebook friends to either post Facebook videos of themselves pouring ice water over their heads or donate to the ALS Association (or both).

Locally linked participants have included village attorney and resident Matt Rogers, whose brother died of ALS; the family of late Ridgewood High School (RHS) teacher and ALS sufferer Jack Elwood; and many former and current residents.

As of Wednesday, $31.5 million had been raised for ALS since July 29, according to the ALS Association, compared to $1.5 million last year.

Sara's Pre-School teacher Marianne DeMarco, who said the teachers were also donating to charity, organized the event at the school because her cousin Renate was diagnosed with ALS a few months ago.

"It's a good cause, and I'm just so happy my boss let us do this," DeMarco said.

The children aren't totally new to fun philanthropic events.

"We do a hop-a-thon every year to raise money for multiple sclerosis," said Lynda Cohen, the school's assistant director.

Though the students expressed some confusion about ALS, they knew their teachers did what they did to help people.

Ronan, 7, said that if the teachers did not do the challenge, "The people couldn't really live very good."

According to the ALS Association, ALS affects up to 30,000 Americans at any given time, typically impacting adults ages 40-70. The disease, which often appears to occur randomly, can lead to paralysis as motor neurons die and the brain loses its ability to initiate and control muscle movement. Eventually, speech, swallowing and breathing are affected.

Though some critics have called the Ice Bucket Challenge a "slacktivist" (i.e. slacker activist) campaign, the feeling about the challenge among residents and local officials who have dealt intimately with the disease was positive.

Rogers' older brother and "closest friend" Tom died of ALS in 2005 at age 53. In his brother's honor, Rogers participated in the challenge last week.

"It's not just having an ice cube fight," Rogers said. There's a goal to this."

Rogers' brother, a former Santa Barbara city councilman who studied environmental science at Yale, was planning on announcing his run for U.S. Congress when his first symptom appeared. His hand couldn't release its grip on a doorknob, Rogers recalled.

The little-known disease taught the family a lot about love, as well as the enormous amount of money that goes into ALS care.

On top of a significant contribution from the people of Santa Barbara, the family still took out loans to pay for Tom's treatments, which cost "well into the seven figures," said Rogers, who for years spent his vacations visiting Tom in California.

"He's been an inspiration to my kids, to his kids, as well," Rogers said. "His philosophy was 'never look down.'"